appamāda & pamāda: frequently translated as
- heedful / heedless
- diligent / negligent
- careful / careless
appamāda = assiduity
The above translations are good, and they work in most contexts, but it’s missing a very important piece. It’s missing the perseverance, the grit, the tenacity, the all out every moment 24/7 give it everything you got mentality. Practicing with the urgency like your head is fire. video example
Assiduity is the perfect translation because it captures that relentless, unremitting drive, without sacrificing the careful wise attention.
(merriam webster)
: showing great care, attention, and effort
: marked by careful unremitting attention or persistent application
- assiduous planning
* an assiduous book collector
* She tended her garden with assiduous attention.(oxford dict.)
assiduity: noun
1Constant or close attention to what one is doing.
‘the assiduity with which he could wear down his opponents’(yourdictionary.com)
diligence; [also pl.] constant personal attention.
Classical Latin assiduitas, constant …
Assiduity = Ass-sit-do-it-y
It’s a great English word because it means exactly what it sounds like. You “sit your ass” down and diligently apply yourself until you can “do it”.
It’s also very easy to memorize the pali, because it starts with ‘A’, followed by two consonants: Appamāda → Assiduity
difference between ‘assiduity’ and ‘heedfulness’
- A heedful person becomes a better person, with better sila, increases their chance for a favorable rebirth in the human or deva realms.
- An assiduous person is so determined not do go through the rounds of suffering anymore, through perseverance and constant yoniso manasi-kara attains nirvana in this very life time.
AN 2.5 appamāda linked to appativāna (relentless, unremitting, indefatiguable)
(refrain)
‘kāmaṃ taco ca nhāru ca aṭṭhi ca avasissatu, |
Gladly, [let only the] skin and tendons and bones remain, |
sarīre upassussatu maṃsa-lohitaṃ, |
(the) body (having) dried-up (the) flesh-&-blood, |
yaṃ taṃ purisa-thāmena purisa-vīriyena |
what ever manly-strength, manly-virility, |
purisa-parakkamena pattabbaṃ |
manly-courage can-attain, |
na taṃ a-pāpuṇitvā |
** (with) that not-(yet)-attained, |
vīriyassa saṇṭhānaṃ bhavissatī’ti. |
(my) vigor relaxing {won’t}-happen. |
(second rep: assiduity)
Tassa mayhaṃ, bhikkhave, appamād-ādhigatā sambodhi, |
******my, *********, assiduity-[led to]-attainment (of) awakening. |
Appamād-ādhigato an-uttaro yogak-khemo. |
assiduity-[led to]-attainment (of) un-excelled {freedom from the}-yoke. |
Tumhe cepi, bhikkhave, appaṭivānaṃ padaheyyātha: |
“You too, monks, relentlessly (you) should-exert (yourselves), [thinking]: |